Golden Cain (Yaoi) [Paperback]

You Asagiri (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2004

Shun works very hard to live up to the memory of his older brother, even at the cost of his personal life. Suddenly, a beautiful stranger comes into his life and takes Shun on a ride down a dangerous road of love, loss, lust, guilt, passion, and taboo! Shun craves excitement, and the stranger gives it to him...but at what cost? Will come shrink-wrapped and carries an 18+ age advisory.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Central Park Media - Be Beautiful (September 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586649558
• ISBN-13: 978-1586649555
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,417,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars beautiful artwork and a boatload of angst, November 17, 2004

By 

straitjacket (columbia, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Golden Cain (Yaoi) (Paperback)

i've been prowling around amazon.com in search for the explicit yaoi genre published in the states (most that got licensed are mild shounen-ai), and only recently have any luck in finding them. golden cain is one of those books. you asagiri's trademark art is breathtaking as usual, with softlines and defined background.

story wise, this manga is very angsty. shun, all around perfect guy is, as the blurb say, is trying to live up to his brother's legacy, who was involved in a serious incident a few years back. however, no matter what shun does, his parents were more or less ignoring his presence, and thus put our pretty boy in super-angst mode. so in his spare time shun goes all out trying to release all his compounded sorrow and guilt by hanging out with the wrong crowd.

in enters cain, the mysterious blondie dude who so happened helped shun one night. after that it seemed that cain is a permanent fixture in shun's life, much to his chagrin and annoyance (at least for a while). why is cain intent on attaching himself to shun? there are obvious mysteries swirling around and shun can't help but feel insecure...

anyways, i'm trying not to reveal the plot too much (plot, what plot? joking). all in all, the story is more than a bit unrealistic, but hey, it's enjoyable. and the twists in this one are pretty darn good, once it's bared all and sundry. i sure didn't see that coming... heh heh heh.

i find shun a bit melodramatic, but i guess that what's happened when you got such insensitive parents (boy, they pissed me off). i admit that i pretty much can't believe how they're treating shun, no matter what had transpired before. come on, he's just a kid.

and be beautiful obviously changed the setting from a highschool to college, i guess because of the explicit content (god perish the thoughts of highschoolers indulging in sex) *sarcasm* oh well, it works since the story doesn't revolve much around the school anyways, unlike in "selfish love," another of be beautiful's title.

all in all, this is a rather good read, if you're into dramas, gorgeous boys, angst and of course, yaoi. and since this is a you asagiri work, the quality is impeccable and the story entertaining. another good yaoi manga worth spending your moolah on.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Asagiri's Art is Golden in So-So Story, September 3, 2005

By 

Pool Shark (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Golden Cain (Yaoi) (Paperback)

BeBeautiful has quickly become a favorite publisher of mine. This was one of the first of their books I bought and I truly loved the art. The story on the other hand was a bit weak. Shun's guilt over his brother's accident has him hanging out with the wrong crowd and almost being publicly raped. Suddenly he's rescued by renowned model, Cain. Cain, who his brother admired so much. This is all in the first few pages. Now, let the sex and angst suddenly begin. And it does. Immediately. Why worry about characterization or too much troublesome plotline, right?

Okaaaay...now Cain is there everywhere, and Shun doesn't mind 'cause homelife sucks anyway. And cue to more sex. Not that I mind too much when we're talking Asagiri's drawing. However, the dialogue was lame, the angst a little too much. The twists at the end were a great touch, and I enjoyed myself much more by then. In short: Love good art? Don't mind sex scenes with goofy plots? You a yaoi fan? Here you are then. Buy this book.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Only if You're Desperate, December 9, 2004

By 

H. Kim "sunidale" (Ithaca, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Golden Cain (Yaoi) (Paperback)

So you're browsing on Amazon.com, for the recent spate of Yaoi translation releases, and *Golden Cain* comes up on every list.

Now, I've reviewed both *Desire* and *Only the Ring Finger Knows*- both excellent volumes. *Golden Cain* in comparison is a disappointment. If you're looking for lovely art and angsty boy-love storylines, *Desire* and *OtRFK* will be a much better choice. Lovely art, angsty boy-love, PLUS explicit scenes, wait the 3-5 months for Takakura Row's *Skyscrapers of Oz*.

Because, in the end, even if you want honest to goodness "yaoi", you don't want something that's frankly ridiculous -in story, in dialogue, in characterization. No, yaoi is not where you look for "deep" meaning and pretentious high literature, but neither should it make you toss it aside half a dozen times while reading it because it's just a bit too stupid.

Without spoiling too much, here's the basic premise: boy with issues over perfect brother starts strange relationship with gorgeous model, angst ensues, and denouement explains away brother's role in all this with boy's model lover.

Painful (not in a good way), more cringeworthy melodrama between family members, inexplicable self-loathing, buckets of tears. I'm a firm believer in tears and torturing your lovely bishounen. After all yaoi just feeds on good angst. But this is a bit too embarrassing.
On top of that there's this strange side story with freaky Satanist kidnappers. If this sounds mildly intriguing, sorry for the confusion. Some yaoi can take fantastic, over-the-top elements (bizarre plot, gorgeous rockstar characters, mystery, obsession, etc.) and transform them into something that strangely fits together, and makes it cool. This one fails. That surreal "coolness" factor is missing from *Golden Cain*.

You Asagiri's style is popular, though not my style- the eyes are too sharp, a bit sloppy, and a bit girly. And for a story that involves a fashion model, the clothing sketches are just unpleasant.

I'd wait until the publishers select a better volume of Asagiri. This one is the first yaoi purchase that made me regret it.
Quite unfortunate.